The Electro Menace
by Mark C
Summary: Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends have to combat Electro after his latest escape.


**Disclaimer: **All characters within this work are the property of Marvel Comics.

**Summary:** Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends have to combat Electro after his latest escape.

**AN:** This story was written for bewize as part of the Yuletide 2010 fic exchange.

* * *

The concrete jungle of New York seemed as usual during the early evening hours of the day. If anyone had been looking skyward, they would disagree – two of the city's well known heroes were hastily making their way to a destination solely known to them.

"You know we're late?" Spider-Man asked, firing a new webline to continue his webswinging.

"For the zillionth time, I know already," replied Iceman, skating on his ice-sled.

"Angelica is not gonna be happy that we're late picking her up."

"We'll just tell her we had to stop a jewel robbery while we were on our way."

Spider-Man quickly added, "And that you had to show off to that redhead who watched us catch those guys."

"You know the Iceman has to showoff to his fans."

"Oh, please…"

"If you want to get there faster, you'd better hop on here with me. What do you say, Webs?"

Spider-Man knew that his frosty friend was right. Spinning a web aimed at Iceman's back, he hopped onto the ice-sled and travelled the rest of the way under his buddy's powers.

* * *

_Bus Depot_

Angelica Jones arrived back in New York on time and had already collected her bags. She had a nice visit with her father and probably could have gone to see him faster as Firestar but then she would have had problems bringing any luggage with her.

In the end, she was glad to be home. She missed the guys, Peter's Aunt May and Ms. Lion and was very much looking forward to seeing them. _But what is taking them so long_? Angelica thought, taking a glance at a nearby clock. She had informed both Peter and Bobby when she would get back. _I wonder what trouble those two have gotten themselves into this time._

It was fifteen minutes later when Peter Parker and Bobby Drake rushed into the bus station. Peter had changed from his Spider-Man costume to his street clothes before entering the station with Bobby.

"You're late, guys," Angelica told the pair sternly, arms crossed and tapping her foot.

"We're not that…" Bobby began innocently before being interrupted.

"By over an hour, Bobby. Now this I can expect from you."

"Hey!"

Angelica turned toward Peter and continued, "But not you, Peter. What happened?"

"We ran into a little jewelry heist on the way here and took us a little longer than expected," Peter explained.

"A simple jewel theft shouldn't have taken the two of you that long to handle unless…"

Bobby had a feeling what Angelica was going to say next and he could not look at her so he kept his eyes glued to the floor.

"Bobby saw a cute girl amongst the onlookers and went about impressing her," stated Angelica looking at her quiet friend.

It was silent for bit before Bobby sheepishly said, "I'm sorry. It's just when there's a pretty girl…"

"You just can't help yourself," Peter and Angelica said together knowing their friend very well.

The three friends laughed. All was forgiven.

"C'mon, Bobby, let's gather Angelica's things and head for home. Aunt May is probably wondering what's taking us so long." Peter took one of Angelica's bags.

Bobby took the other and they left the depot to hail a cab. It was no surprise that Bobby picked up the tab for the ride home.

* * *

_Ryker's Island_

In his cell, Electro was working on a way to break out. Gathering some odds and ends from the last several months of his incarceration he had fashioned himself a kite. He was putting some finishing touches on his project when he heard a rumble of thunder.

A predatory smile came over his face. "The time is right for me to get out of this hell hole."

Once Electro attached some string to the kite, he carefully pushed it through the bars of his window, after he had taken care of the glass. All he had to do now was wait for the wind to pick up so his kite could fly.

_Come on, come on_, he thought to himself as he started to get tired dangling the kite out the window. The thunder began to get louder and lightning was seen in the distance. All of a sudden the wind began to pick up and lifted the kite up.

"Excellent, it's only a matter of time now."

Electro continued to feed his line out so the kite could gain the appropriate height for the desired effect.

The lightning continued to come closer to the prison and flash at a swifter pace. To his delight, Electro could see several lightning strikes over the water.

His kite began to soar higher and higher into the stormy sky when it was suddenly struck by a lightning bolt. Just like Ben Franklin's experiment with electricity, the charge travelled on down the line – not toward a key, but to Electro himself.

The man was not phased at all by the current as it poured into him. In fact, he enjoyed it, because this was his plan from the beginning. He had known about this coming storm and used the kite as a way to recharge himself.

"Ah, I can feel the electrical power surging in me once again – but I need more!" Electro exclaimed as the lightning continued to strike.

Every once and a while, the lightning would strike the kite and he would get another boost of electricity. When the strikes started to dwindle, Electro felt that he was charged enough to make his escape. Summoning his power, he blasted a hole through the wall and easily made his way out.

_It will not take them too long to figure out that I'm gone, so I'd better hurry_. Electro went to a nearby dock which just so happened to have a motorboat waiting for him.

With a couple of pulls, the engine turned over and he was off. The only thought in his mind was to get his hands on some money to truly be free. He had an idea on how to go about that.

* * *

_A few days later_

It did not take long for Electro's escape to become public. The Spider-Friends immediately swung into action with the news. Finding that villain was something they hoped to do as quickly as possible because of what happened the last time they fought Electro. The memory of battling Videoman, whom the electric powered menace created, immediately came to their minds. They did not want a repeat performance of that time.

"Where do you think he'll go?" Iceman queried while on a sweep of the city with his friends.

Spider-Man did not hesitate to answer as he webswung, "Electro would go anywhere to make a quick score because he hasn't left the area."

Firestar added, "Doesn't sound surprising. Unfortunately, there are several places in the city he could rob."

"That's true, 'Star but I don't think we need to worry about that now."

"Why's that?"

Spider-Man pointed into the distance where he spotted a couple flashes of electricity. Once the others noticed the flashes, they picked up their pace to head in the direction where Electro was. The trio was proven right, it was Electro. He had stopped an armored car with the intention of robbing it.

"Now I'll have all the money I'll ever need!" Electro cackled once he stopped the armored vehicle and taken care of the guards.

"I don't think so, electricity-brain and here's why…"

Electro turned around and was greeted by a pair of feet to the chest by the webslinger himself, knocking him head over heels on the pavement.

"Damn you, Spider-Man! Why do you always have to interfere in my affairs?"

"When you take something that doesn't belong to you, that's when I make it my business. Plus I brought a few friends with me in case you became too much of a handful."

That was when Firestar and Iceman made their presence known. The pair went to the armored car and got it back on its wheels. Firestar used her powers to seal the hole that Electro had made in its side. Iceman helped the guards up and made sure they were all right.

Spider-Man had kept Electro busy while his friends attended to the vehicle and the guards. As in his past battles with him, the webslinger easily evaded the electrical attacks of his foe but some of those bolts of electricity came awfully close.

"Why don't you give up, Electro, and make it easy on yourself," Spider-Man told him as Iceman and Firestar joined their friend as they encircled the electric powered menace.

Sirens were heard in the background. Electro did not want to go back to prison. His chances of that happening increased every second he continued fighting the webhead and his pals. There was only one thing he could do and began to charge himself up.

_Get ready for the shock of your lives, heroes_. Electro raised his hands as if to surrender.

"Now that's a good…" Spider-Man started to say when his spider-sense tingled intensely.

Before any of the Spider-Friends could react, Electro dropped his hands and blasted them with a wide arcing electrical blast. The force of the electricity sent them flying backward and hitting anything that was in their path.

After falling to one knee due to the amount of power used, Electro slowly rose to his feet. "Used too much energy… need to… recharge," grunted Electro as he gingerly took his leave of the crime scene.

"I hate it when he does that," Spider-Man said as he got back to his feet and looked himself over. Parts of his costume were burnt – he was lucky that his suit was insulated. "You guys all right?"

"I'm fine, webs," answered Iceman shakily getting to his feet.

"Me too," Firestar responded rising up. "It looks like Electro got away, though."

She was right, there was no sign of Electro. The only thing that remained was the mess that had been created from the fight. They were relieved when the guards told them that all the money in the armored car was all accounted for.

The police finally arrived and took statements from the guards about what had occurred. With nothing more for them to do, Spider-Man and his friends went back home to regroup and decide what their next move would be.

* * *

A couple of days had gone by with no sign of Electro. Peter was not all that surprised about this because he knew that Electro had used up a lot of electricity in that final attack and he needed to replenish his powers before he would show himself once more. So, there was a small window of opportunity for Peter, Bobby and Angelica to come up with some kind of plan.

One thing they did was to use their computer to monitor the use of electricity in the area. There were two things to look for.: the first was any sudden spikes in electrical usage. They would be able to locate where it was coming from and that it was Electro causing it. Secondly, drops in electricity would mean that the man once known as Max Dillon was recharging himself.

_It's at times like these I can't thank Tony Stark enough for the equipment he gave us_, Peter thought as he completed the work on the computer and went over to the portable lab. He started working on a new batch of web fluid and this was not of the regular variety.

"What's with the chemistry set, Pete?" Bobby inquired as he and Angelica came back from helping Peter's aunt with the groceries.

"Isn't it obvious, Bobby, he's making some web fluid," stated Angelica who had seen Peter do that very thing a time or two.

"You're partly right, Angel. This web fluid is a special type only for Electro. If I had some of this the last time, Electro would have been back in prison by now. But the next time we see him, we'll be ready for 'im." Peter finished filling the last of his web cartridges.

* * *

Over the next several days, they were able to track the drops of electricity but whenever the arrived at the location, there was no one to be found. Luckily, Electro had not attempted to steal a thing; on the flip side, he _was_ recharging himself.

It was not until a few more days had passed that there was an electrical spike.

"Finally, some action!" Bobby exclaimed as he changed into Iceman.

Peter and Angelica just shook their heads as they became Spider-Man and Firestar.

Pushing aside the trophy on the mantle to reveal their computer, the got a location where Electro was. Spider-Man placed the special web cartridges in his utility belt.

Now set, Spider-Man said, "Spider-Friends…"

"Go for it!"

The trio of friends then went off to battle Electro.

* * *

This time they did not find Electro robbing an armored car, but a bank. They were not going to rush in because of the possibility of hurting people inside which meant they would wait for him to come out. While waiting, the wallcrawler replaced the web cartridges in his web shooters with the ones he created to combat Electro.

"I now have all the money I need to…" Electro started to say as he exited the bank and was greeted by a snowball to the back of his head. "Who dares…"

"That would be me, electric-puss," Iceman stated as he came down to ice up the villain.

"You're not getting me twice, popsicle."

Electro fired blast after electrical blast at Iceman and eventually knocked him off his ice-sled. He prepared for another attack on his frozen opponent when he was hit from behind by some intense heat.

"He didn't come alone, Electro," Firestar told him as she encircled the electrical powered criminal with fire.

Electro blasted back the flames with some electricity to emerge from the flaming circle. He then started attacking her.

"Don't forget me," Spider-Man said as he hit Electro in the head with a webbed up fist.

Electro was slowly getting to his feet, shaking off the blow from the webhead.

"You can't stop me. None of you can stop me, for I am Electro!" He fired in all directions at the heroes.

_Gotta end this fast_. Spider-Man signaled to his friends to get into position. Firestar and Iceman fired back at Electro as the webslinger made his move. He webbed Electro's feet to the street immobilizing him.

"Now!" shouted Spider-Man.

Iceman and Firestar combined their powers above the villain, causing water to fall on him.

"Argh!" Electro yelled out in pain as he began to short circuit.

Spider-Man encased the villain up to his head in the special webbing in order to contain the electrical discharges. It wasn't long before Electro was completely drained and ready for the police when they arrived.

Security from the bank gathered the bags that Electro had taken and let the Spider-Friends know that they would explain everything to the authorities.

Back home the three friends plopped themselves down on the couch, exhausted from the day's activities.

"Another job well done," Peter said leaning back.

Angelica added with a small laugh, "You'll get no argument from me."

"It goes to show you how great a team we are," mentioned Bobby happily.

"I'll go you one better," Peter started, "We're also an awesome group of friends."

**The End**


End file.
